


Father's Day (You were her Tallahassee)

by nicoleaf



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), ouat
Genre: Amnesiac Henry, Baelfire - Freeform, Canonical Character Death, Canonical Character Death - Neal Cassidy, Confessions, Death, Emma is still in love with Neal, Episode: s02e06 Tallahassee, Episode: s03e15 Quiet Minds, F/M, Father's Day, Gen, Henry Mills - Freeform, Henry doesnt know how to deal with Neals death, Henry is sick of everyone dying, How to cope with Quiet Minds, I had to take a break writing this because of feels, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Neal Cassidy - Freeform, Neal is Emma's Tallahassee, Notes, Numb Henry, POV Henry, Post - S03e15 Quiet Minds, Post Quiet Minds, Ribbons, Tallahassee - Freeform, cursed Henry, daisies, emma swan - Freeform, love confessions in the strangest way, quiet minds, the curse is broken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 20:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1791637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoleaf/pseuds/nicoleaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two times Henry Swan visited Neal Cassidy's grave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Father's Day (You were her Tallahassee)

 

Henry Swan stared at the sleek black marble grave stone that stood before him. He looked at the deeply engraved words that bore his father’s name on them.

 

“Neal Baelfire Cassidy,

Beloved Son,

Beloved Father,

_‘Do not stand at my grave and weep,_

_I am not there,_

_I do not sleep._

_Do not stand at my grave and cry,_

_I am not there,_

_I did not die.’_

Died March 30, 2014.”

 

Henry didn’t understand how the grave could say “beloved father” on it, he never met his dad, until now he didn’t even know his name. Neal, Neal Cassidy, that name held so much in Henry’s mind, and yet, so little. He tried to imagine what his dad had been, he must have been something to steal his mom’s heart, to break her heart in half when he abandoned her. He knew the story, but not the details. He had built up a picture in his head ever since he was little, a good looking con man who knew how to play girl’s hearts like a game of monopoly. But the look that his mom had when she told him, when she grabbed him and told him that his father was dead. The tears in her eyes, the tears were for someone more than a sleezy jerk bag looking for another girl to use. The tears were for a man who meant something.

So he looked down on his father’s grave, flowers from various people in town, but one flower stuck out the most, a single daisy, nothing fancy or elegant. A pure white daisy with a long, pale blue ribbon tied around it, a note was looped through the bow. Looking around to make sure no one was watching him, Henry dropped to his knees and picked up the flower, curious to who would have left it there. Turning the small card over to read the back of it, he was surprised to see his mother’s handwriting on it.

_“You were my Tallahassee.”_

Tallahassee? What did she mean by Tallahassee? They had lived there for a few years when he was younger, when they moved he had been maybe four or five at the most. But whatever it meant, it obviously was important, and personal. So with a heavy heart, and a curious mind, Henry walked away…

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Henry remembered. He remembered everything. He remembered Storybrooke and growing up there, he remembered his story book and bringing Emma to town, he remembered Pan and Neverland. He remembered everything about his life before the curse that was put on him. But most importantly, he remembered _him._ His dad, Neal, he remembered meeting him, and learning what actually happened on the night his mom was arrested. He remembered the love and concern he got from his dad. He _remembered_ how good it felt to know that he had two, make that three, parents who loved him.

He also remembered the numbness he had felt when he had stood before his dad’s grave the first time, the feeling that he should feel sad, but really, he felt nothing. But now, he was overcome with sorrow. His dad, he dad who had been oh so wonderfully alive, the dream dad who taught him to swordfight and played baseball with him, was gone. Not just gone, but dead, never to return. He couldn’t accept that. In his life to many people had died, he had attended to many funerals. But this death hit hardest, this was his dad, the dad he only knew for a short time, but had made that time seem like forever.

So Henry sat on the ground, his back resting against the back of his father’s grave.  And he whispered into the warm summer night air,

“Happy Father’s day, Dad.”

And put his head into his arms, and cried, because this death was far too hard to handle.


End file.
